7/09/2013

A Tale of the Little Gay Flag That Made Cajuns Angry:

See that lovely rainbow flag up there, floating out on a flag pole over the azaleas? It's in Girard Park in Lafayette, Louisiana, which just happens to be the Rude Pundit's hometown, where he goes when he visits the Rude family. The group Acadiana OUTspoken Alliance co-sponsored an event to mark the closing of Gay Pride Month, and, by news accounts, a fine time was had by all. Indeed, the event was celebratory for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is that the Defense of Marriage Act had been overturned by the Supreme Court. The other was that the group had no problem getting permission to hoist the flag. Said AOA board member Angelica Vedol, "I thought we’d have to petition to raise the flag, but it wasn’t like that...It was like, ‘Yeah, you can use it.’" In the heart of Cajun Catholic South Louisiana, no one seemed to have a problem with the flag.

Of course, that was until cranky old veteran Ray Green was offended by it because, goddamnit, he didn't fight in Korea for the queers to be able to have free expression on public property in the form of a flag on an otherwise empty flag pole. So Green contacted Lafayette City-Parish Council Member Andy Naquin, who agreed with the principle of flag censorship. Naquin said, "Government flag poles really should be meant to fly only government flags." So he's come up with a solution: outlaw anyone from flying a non-government flag on a government flag pole, perhaps even from all public property. That'll show 'em that the flag pole ain't a fag-pole. (Boo-yah! Up high! Anyone?)

And while he hasn't proposed anything specific yet, Naquin is worried about the precedent that will be set if the Gay Pridesters are allowed to let their freak flag fly on a pole paid for by our taxes. "What would happen if the Catholics were to fly a flag or a pro-life flag was flown or KKK flag was flown or even Taliban flag was flown? Who would you say ‘no' to when you open those doors?" he asked.

Indeed. You never know what might happen if anyone is allowed willy-nilly to fly the flag of its group on a guv'mint pole.

That up there is the New Rochelle, NY armory. It is public land. That's a government owned and operated flag pole. And right there under the American flag is the Gadsden flag, the "Don't Tread on Me" flag, or, as it's known now, the Tea Party flag. Veterans in New Rochelle raised it without permission while changing an old American flag, and it was taken down by order of the city council, upsetting teabaggers everywhere.

Now, let's make this fun:

Andy Naquin was endorsed by the local Tea Party when he ran in 2011. The Rude Pundit has been to a Tea Party event in Lafayette where you can sure as shit bet that non-government flags were flying high in a public park and in the rec center there.

So, Council Member Naquin, do you support banning those flags, too? Your supporters deserve an answer.